Winter

I don't know where I am. Nothing looks familiar, not the people surrounding me, not the park I am in, not even the air I am breathing. Why is it so dark? Where am I? I can see their mouths moving, but I can barely hear what they are saying. I feel as if they are getting further and further away...I am too tired to keep my eyes open, so I just fall back asleep. Now, I'm in a forest. I'm not running, I'm not scared, I'm surrounded by trees that look as if they can reach the sky. Their smell fills the air, and I can't help but smile. I am walking, I don't know where. Then, I start hearing water running, and before I know it, my feet step into a nice and cool stream. The water feels so gentle against my feet, and it washes away the dirt from the forest. The stream is very clean, so I end up washing my face with it, and drinking it. It taste as good as it feels. Then, I hear something, no, someone! At first, I'm alarmed, but then I see that it is my sister. She's laughing with my mom. They are just further down the stream, I call their names, and start walking down. But they stopped laughing, they even stopped smiling, and they were staring at me wide eyed. I call their names again, and tell them it's me, but they can't seem to recognize me. 
The stream turned into blood, and the beautiful lushes trees turn into evil beings. The air felt as if it is toxic, burning my lungs. Then, I heard it. A high pitched scream only my sister could make. I look up from the blood my feet are in and realize I stopped running, but I also realized I was right in front of them. Their bodies...blood gushing out of then like they were a never ending fountain. I heard a scream again, but realized it was me. My legs couldn't hold me up anymore, and I fell to the ground beside them. I was holding them both in my arms, crying and sobbing. Who could have done this? They were the nicest people in the world. My mom was only 42, my sister 18...She was two years older than me, and had her whole life in front of her. She wanted to be a doctor. But she was gone now, and I was left alone. I closed my eyes real hard, and when I opened them again, I was on a comfortable bed. 
I had been dreaming, I was glad to be home, in my warm bed, with my family alive. I started to pull the covers off me so that I could go downstairs when I felt something in my arm...I had tubs, a lot of them, going not only in both of my arms, but in my chest, too. It hurt to move, and it hurt even to breathe. Someone came in, a girl, she had black short curly hair, and was wearing a green uniform. She had a worried look on her face. When she was right beside me, I realized she'd been trying to talk, but my screaming made me not be able to hear her. Then I felt a pinch in my arm, and went back to the same nightmare. This time, when I awoke, instead of screaming, I was crying. I just wanted to see my mom and sister. The lady came back, and this time, I looked at her hand, and there was a needle. I was sure she was going to use it on me, why else would she bring it in? So I was about to try to take the tubes out of me, and then run away, but I realized I was strapped to the bed. She told me her name, Solstice.
"Oh, it's okay, everything's going to be alright...here, this will help, trust me.." Her voice sounded like an angels, sweet and full of care, but there was a hint of sadness and worry in her eyes. 
I was about to tell her no, I started shaking my head, but my sobs wouldn't let me talk,  and by the time they stopped, I had fallen asleep, back to the dream I feared the most. This time, when I woke up, I wasn't screaming or crying. I opened my eyes and looked around the room. I was still attached to my bed, but I was able to lift my head up. The walls were a peach-yellow that somehow reminded me of the sunrise. There was a window in front of my bed, a very big one, that showed a hallway and people with the same green uniform. The glass was thick, I could tell from just looking at it...The door had a gold door knob, and the door itself looked like it was made of wood. At the corner beside the door and the window, there was a little TV. I looked at both sides of my bed, and found a nightstand on my left. There was a lamp, a phone, a book called Breathless, and a remote, which I guessed was for the TV. I heard the door open and somehow jumped even though I was strapped down. This time, Solstice didn't have a needle with her.
"It's just me, Morana." She had the same look of sadness and worry in her deep blue eyes, but her voice sounded as if nothing was wrong, like we were old time friends. 
She must have been about the same age as my sister. Her eyes were shiny green, but not shiny caused by tears or light or anything. They just looked shiny, and fragile.
"What's wrong? Are you okay? Do you need me to get anoth..." I knew exactly what she was going to say, and I knew what my answer was.
"No!" I knew I sounded too uptight and confused, but I just didn't want to even think about sleeping. My voice sounded like a strangers, too, like if it was too rusty and hoarse.
"I mean, no thank you. I'm fine, really. But I do have a question.." I knew I hadn't won her over on me not needing to sleep some more, so I had to make conversation to show her I was alright.
"What is it?"
"You told me your name is Solstice...but I never told you mine...so how do you know it?" I don't know if I was making the right type of conversation, but I couldn't stop myself.
"I work here, I'm a nurse, and you're in a hospital. You'll be fine though." She ended with a smile, I don't know why but it made me feel happy up until I realized what she said.
"Wait, I'm in a hospital? Why?" I know it was a stupid question, I mean, I knew I was in here for a reason, because people don't usually have IV lines everywhere, and they aren't usually hooked up to a monitor. And, usually, people could breathe without their chest burning. I started to have a coughing fit, and I guess Solstice didn't want to answer me or something, and she left the room in a hurry. I hadn't stopped coughing when she came back in, but she was trying to soothe me, telling me everything was going to be alright. Then, I felt a pinch again. This time, the dream was different. I was in a field of daisies, and not just small ones that are almost everywhere. These daisies were the big ones that you saw in forests and such. I was wearing a beautiful yellow dress, and started running and spinning in the field. Then, I stopped because I started feeling dizzy, and when I looked around me, there was my mom and sister. They were each holding one hand out to me, and with the other holding each others hand. I reached out and as soon as I touched their hands, we started spinning. It wasn't a fun and laughing spin like I had been doing myself, it was a scary spin. They were both screaming, and looking everywhere but each other. It was like they weren't seeing the beautiful field I was. Their hands started to hurt mine, and I tried pulling away, but they wouldn't let go. I woke up and practically stood up, scared out of my mind. I found Solstice on the side of my bed, holding my hand, but not like my mom and sister were doing. She was gentle, and barely put any pressure on it.
"Are you okay, Morana? I heard you screaming from down the hall..." She sounded like an angel again, calm, yet caring.
"Yeah, it was just a bad dream..." She let go of my hand and got up off my bed and started to walk towards the door.
"Wait, Solstice..where's my mom and sister?" 
She had stopped at the door, hand on the door knob. She turned around, and came to my bed, with so much sadness and worry in her eyes, more than the first time I saw her.
"You remember them.." It wasn't a question, it was more of a comment, but I couldn't help but nod and ask again, this time I sounded more worried.
"Where is my mom and sister?" 
"You should go to sleep, you need to get better. Do your lungs still hurt? It sounds like it...Just rest for now, and then we will talk about them."
I was kind of mad that she wasn't telling me, and I was worried, but I couldn't help but fall asleep, into a scary and deja-vu dream. But this time, no one woke me up. After I tried pulling away, they stared at me, with sadness and grief. They were scared, their eyes wide, staring at me. They fell to the ground, and I realized they were bleeding. They were dieing. I took them both in my arms, crying, telling them it will be alright, yelling help, trying to yell loud enough for someone to hear. But then, they were gone. All I could do was cry. My tears replaced the blood, and then, all black. Like I had fallen asleep in my dream, and I was dreaming and thinking of nothing. Nothing.
When I did wake up, I felt very good. I realized I was on my side, which meant I wasn't strapped on the bed anymore. I sat up on the bed that I now called my own, and saw I had drooled on my pillow. Great. I hadn't noticed the first time I checked my room out that there were windows that showed outside, not just a hallway. The shutters are yellow, and match the wall, so I could see how I didn't see it. I breathed in a big gulp of air, and found that there was no burning, anywhere. I moved all of my limbs, seeing if I was hurting or even sore, and to my surprise, I felt like I could run a marathon. I got up and went to the windows, and opened the shutters. It had snowed, a lot. The window had frost on it, maybe even ice. The sidewalks and roads were covered in snow, and so was the roof top of every building and parked car. There weren't that many people driving or walking outside, and I couldn't tell if that was strange or normal. The sun was out, and it was a clear blue sky. It was a perfect winter day.
"Well you look healthy today!" Solstice made me jump, and I almost fell. She was in arms reach, so she steadied me on my feet so I could regain my  balance.
"Sorry, I thought you heard me come in.." She looked like a puppy that had just gotten in trouble.
"Oh it's okay, I was just looking outside. It feels like I have been asleep for months! I had forgotten it was snowing out." We were both giggling until the door opened again. this time, I didn't jump. 
"Hello Morana, I am Dr. Anderson, nice to finally meet you while you're conscious!" He was smiling and shaking my hand. I think he noticed I was very confused and I had no idea what to say, so he went on. "You are looking very healthy, which is a very good thing. You have recovered your health in such a short time, I've never seen anything like it! Do you remember anything?"
I knew he didn't mean if I remembered my dreams, so I thought back to the last memory I had before dreaming. 
"Well, I remember I had gymnastics, then my mom came to pick me up with my sister. It was Bowling day and we had planned to go eat and do some bowling at the arena but I had twisted my ankle in gymnastics, so we had to go home. I asked if we could go to Dairy Queens for my favorite "flavor of the month" Brownie batter, and easily convinced them to go. We went to DQ, but I don't remember what happened after that..." I was trying very hard to focus, but my head really started to hurt and I felt dizzy all of a sudden.
"Maybe you should rest some more...here go back to your bed, we can talk another time." I definitely wanted to sit down, but I didn't have any more patience, I wanted to see my family.
"No I'm fine, it's just a little head ache. What happened, Dr.?"
All of the happiness that shown in his face had vanished, and was replaced with sorrow and pain. I wondered if he was going to be okay, and was about to ask, but then he started talking.
"Listen, this might be a little hard for you to grasp, but you were in an accident. On your way back home, the roads were very icy, and it seems as if your car slid and flipped down a forest. You all had your seat belts on, which was very good of you!" He made his mouth smile, but it wasn't a happy one."But...Your mom and sister were hurt worse than you. They are in the ICU with the best of our doctors right now, and their conditions aren't changing. But that can be a good thing, because it means they aren't getting worse. We don't know how it is possible that your car slid, I mean, you did have winter tires on, and they are supposed to have the best grip any wheels can give. But, I guess things happen...I am very sorry."
I couldn't handle all that. It felt like the room was spinning, and I tried to tell them that I was going to puke, but they were too late..I don't remember eating, so I don't know how puke came out, but it did. And to top things off, I fainted.